Gundam Wing: Zeben's Story
by Fionarox
Summary: Relena abandoned the Peacecraft family and trained with her brother, Milliardo for years. Now under the codename Zeben, she meets the infamous Gundam Pilots, and decides for herself whether this war is bred from humanity's nature, or something else.
1. Default Chapter

Key: ''= thinking, ""= saying Authors note; This was just an idea I had that grew and blossomed in time. I will be updating frequently. Have fun reading- O by the way, YOU get to decide the couple. It CAN NOT BE SHONEN-OI. I DON'T LIKE IT, AND ANYWAY, I WANT THIS TO BE A GOOD STORY. Gundam Wing belongs to their respective owners, I DO own the name of Zeben Marquis. Have Fun!  
  
The world was a different place. The year is after colony 195, and the greatest war in history is now unfolding. Many men and women have already died protecting their homelands and families. The hero Zex Marquis, one of the greatest fighters in the war, has been fighting at almost every battle taken place.  
  
The colonies have sent five 'shooting stars' to earth, and hidden deep within the fake rocks are deadly battle suits, ready for Operation Meteor. Pilots have been sent to earth, to help the colonies liberate themselves, and for a unified peace. Surprisingly, the Foreign Vice Minister Dorlian, was assassinated very son after the covert Operation Meteor began, and now, the world enters a dark period of time. Zex, under the command of Trieze Khushranada, has been training a new line of soldiers, and one of them, a girl, has been astute in her study in every way. She is fast becoming the 'Perfect Soldier' of the Earth.  
  
Zeben Marquis sighed. She was having trouble with the other students' again. At the tender age of four, she had begun her studies to learn how to kill. Now, nearly eleven years later, her brother, Zex, believed her to be one of the best pilots, and soldiers, alive. She could do anything, anywhere, in record time. She was proud of herself, but she knew the other teenagers were jealous of her. 'Why are they jealous of me? I guess they don't understand they pain of being someone in disguise, or an orphan.' She thought to herself.  
  
Abruptly, she was surrounded by five boys, all older, and (they thought) stronger. One of them, a bulking blonde said loudly,  
  
"Looky here! It's the teachers pet, the killing machine. You know what I heard 'bout you?" he sneered in her face, "I heard you faked your admission test. You can't tell multiplication from adding, can you little girl?" She had remained silent through out his slurred speech.  
  
She was usually quiet in their classes of how to handle machinery, weapons, and stealth operations. She was quiet now. Her right hand slowly coiled into a practiced fist, and, while holding back most of her strength, she swung her fist at the bully's face. Her muscles, strong as cables, lifted Blondie over her head, and sent him into the nearby garden fountain. The other four boys backed away slowly, and Zeben uncurled her destructive hands, and walked calmly away, on the gravel path. Zex would yell at her later, but she didn't care, and, throwing her golden hair over her shoulder in a casual flip, she proceeded to her room, trying not to let the other boys, and few girls, know what she felt inside. As she unlocked her door, she saw something strange written on the door. It said in a loopy, hasty script:  
  
Hey, Could you leave this over under the sapling tree? If you do, you'll find something. Hand it to your brother, and tell him it's from a war buddy.  
  
Thanks-  
  
D.M  
  
Her goldenrod blonde hair had settled itself on her back. She thought, puzzled, who could have written this, before she noticed her room's lights were on. She always left them off, as per regulations to not waste electricity. Immediately, she crouched low to the ground, minimizing her body, and crawled quickly to the bed.  
  
There she stopped, and looked around coldly, calculating every shadow, every movement. Someone was in her room. She saw something dart, quickly as lightning, toward the closed mahogany door. She slid her foot out, smooth as oil, and tripped the person. She drew her gun, and stood protectively in front of the door. The older boy who stood across from her, a lean youth about her own age, glared at her with partially covered cobalt blue eyes. His eyes were covered by his dark chocolate bangs. The teenager wore a forest green tank top, with black biker pants on his slim frame. He appeared to be looking her over, deciding on possible weak spots, just as she was. He looked amazed that she had actually stopped him. She looked determined at him with her riveting violet eyes.  
  
He leaped at her, and she fired a shot, grazing his right arm, and leaving a crimson line on his upper arm. She smiled grimly. She was the best soldier there was, and she knew she could beat him. He had flaws in his speed. He rushed her as if he hadn't felt the bullet. He went around behind her, and grabbed her in a chokehold. She dug her nails into his arm, and met muscles almost as strong as hers. Almost. She bent her knees, and threw her attacker from over her back. He landed with an audible thud against her hard bed. He stood up slowly, and talked to her.  
  
"You're a good fighter. Almost as good as me." He said, barely nodding his head. She smirked. He was trying to distract her. She knew it wouldn't help him.  
  
"You must be weaker than I thought. Are you mute?" he taunted her. All her other opponents in sword fighting had followed the tradition of taunting her with insults. She had never continued this. It was a waste of breath.  
  
Then Zeben noticed something. No matter what he said or did, the no name boy's face didn't change, it remained passive. She glared at the youth, cocking, and aiming her gun at him. He grinned, and brought his fist up to her face. She staggered; it was the hardest she'd ever been hit. In that split second, he jumped over her kneeled form, stood behind her, and brought her up to a knife against her throat. Now his voice was threatening.  
  
"Don't move." He hissed into her ear, forcing her to walk with him out of the room, to the cold, gray corridor. Classes were just ending, and the silent boy stayed hidden, with a heavy, muscular hand to her mouth to stop her from shouting out. His other hand was behind her back, pushing a threatening gun painfully into her back. Her eyes were angry, and she bit savagely down on his hand that held her. He looked at her coldly, then tightened his grip. Then she felt a shiver of fear run down her back. This boy could hold her for ransom. If he knew her true identity, then he would know that she was worth quite a bit of money. She forced herself to remain still.  
  
He looked at the retreating backs of her fellow soldiers-in-training, and forced her to start walking towards a classroom that she knew had a door to the outside. She tried one more time to break free of his hold on her. She pretended to trip on a desk. Reaching for her hidden knife in her ankle sheath, her hand grasped the plain wooden handle. Drawing it slowly out, she allowed the kidnapper to yank her up to her feet roughly. While he was just getting his gun to her back again, she whirled around, slashing at his chest. Instead of hitting his torso, she drew blood on his other arm, the one that hadn't been wounded by her gun. She grinned, but the victory was short lived. As she turned around to run, he grabbed her silky hair, and yanked. She suppressed a yelp of pain, knowing that if he knew he had hurt her, he would do it again. He dragged her back to him, using her hair as a rope in a way. His brown haired bangs fell over his eyes, allowing him to see out of them, but no one to see him. She started shouting to get someone's attention, but he hastily clamped his bloody hand to her mouth.  
  
"Enough is enough." He growled at her, "Do you want me to knock you unconsciunce?" he asked her. She refused to answer to him, instead struggled vainly against him. His gun coldly touched her temple, and she froze. Now, bloody slowly seeping out of both of his arms, and her head, he yanked open a dark green door, and started running, dragging her with him. He walked calmly out the front gate, pretending that he had his arm curled around her waist, with the gun in his hand, urging her on. The guard saluted her, and Zeben, in a tight-lipped smile, lowered her head to him. He had put on a rough brown leather jacket to cover his wounds and the gun.  
  
He made her walk swiftly downtown, to a grubby apartment, with a poor structure and even poorer living quarters. Inside the only clean room, where he brought her, he tied her to an ebony chair, with her hands behind her, took her knife, and briefly looked over her head wound. After applying a little ointment, he bound her feet, near the ankles, and brought another chair over to sit across from her. She sat regally, listening to her blood as it fell to the floor, plop.plop.plop staining her hair a russet red. She glared at her kidnapper. He glared back, examining her, looking at her rank on her shoulders, and her uniform. Finally, after an hour or so, he spoke.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked angrily.  
  
"I think I'm the one who should be asking that question don't you think?" she replied.  
  
"I'm the one asking questions here. What is your rank in the Gabriel School for Military Training?" he asked.  
  
"I'll tell you nothing. I know what you're doing," she declared, her violet eyes narrowing, "you're trying to get information from me so you can ransom me, or to find out about the school. You're probably one of those Gundanium Mobile pilots." She spat it like a poison.  
  
He stood up, and she noticed that he hadn't let any emotion escape him during their fight, and walk. Now his body was tense with anger. He drew back his hand, and slapped her full across the face, leaving a bruise that covered her entire left cheek. She glared at him, her lavender eyes streaming hate at him. Her body was used to beatings. Once when the boys at her school had gotten her off guard, they had broken both of her arms. In return for that, she broke all of their noses; something that would leave them scarred for life. Back then, she had thought, 'An eye for an eye' and had let it go after that. Now, bound and helpless, she longed to hit him back with all of her strength. What would her brother think? She had allowed someone to hit her, and not hit him back. It would ruin her pride. Then her captor sighed.  
  
"I'll tell you who I am, if you tell me who you are." He said to her. She looked at him, wondering if he would tell the truth.  
  
"Sally." She answered finally.  
  
"The deals off unless you tell me your real name." He said, staring at her.  
  
"Fine. Zeben." She said.  
  
"Zeben.?" he trailed off into the question. She thought it over carefully in her mind whether to tell him her last name or not.  
  
'Hmm. If he knew my last name, he could get more money, and yet, I really don't want to get hit again, after all there's only so much a girl can take from someone with her every skill, but less of it.' She thought wryly. She sighed.  
  
"Zeben Marquis." She said it in a tone of resignation. Her hair, the same as her brother's, only darker, was getting sticky where the blood dripped into it. The top half of her hair was bound behind her, to cascade with the rest of her locks to the dirty, unkempt floor. The light, which came from a lamp, fluttered briefly before turning back on again. While all this had been going on, Zeben hung her head, failing to see the look he was now giving her, astonishment mixed with skepticism. His bangs hid his eyes again as he thought over what she had said.  
  
'When I went to that stupid school, it was a scouting mission only. Not kidnapping. I didn't know that Zex's sister was a soldier! She's about my age then, I wonder if she's heard about me. She is as good as I am in soldier skills, maybe better. I'm surprised. I thought that was impossible, since I'm considered by Doctor J to be the 'Perfect Soldier', then again, I believe she is too. I remember reading about her on L1. She started war arts since four. Hmm, younger then even me. Surprising.' While he was pondering, he failed to see her smile, and lower her head.  
  
'Let him think I'm broken. It'll serve him right if I escape because he didn't notice I have another knife.' She thought, her hair over her face to hide her grin. As her muscles stretched to form her smirk, they tightened over her cheek. She winced with pain. He didn't notice, or didn't want to.  
  
'Typical.' She thought, waiting for him to keep his end of the bargain. He noted her head rise to look at him, expectantly.  
  
"My name is none of your concern." He said, turning his back on her.  
  
"It damn well is!" she spat at him, "You've kidnapped me, I can't think of anything else that gets more personal than that!" he smiled, a small one, that her angry form didn't see.  
  
"Very well. My name is Heero Yuy." He said at last. She settled back uncomfortably against the wooden chair. All of a sudden, he brought his head up quickly, looking in anticipation at the door. A figure walked in, dressed in black. His long brown hair was tied back in a braid, and his light amethyst eyes danced mischievously. He wore a smile on his lips, and carried a box under his arm. He looked from the blood stained boy to the injured blonde, and his gaze came back to Heero's. He chuckled, and set his box on the floor. He went over to the blonde and, using a clean towel from the box, wiped away the blood that was trailing down her cheek.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered, barely audible. She was wearing her tan and light green army uniform, this other teenager must know she was a soldier. He turned to the boy.  
  
"Man, Heero! What did you do there? Why'd you bring home a hostage? Do you know who she is?" he said, glancing behind his back at the girl, slumped against her tight bonds, "That's Zex Marquis' little sister! She's an ace soldier, pilot, everything! This puts the mission in total jeopardy. What are the guys gonna say?" he went back to the girl, giving Heero time to think about what he had just said.  
  
"You know me. You don't know that you know me, and he," he jerked his thumb at Heero, "probably didn't mean to kidnap you. Do you have a note for your brother? Signed D.M? That's me. I'm Duo Maxwell. Pleased to meet you. I know what will happen if I take of those bonds, so I'm not going to. I apologize for that, but we know you're dangerous, and, pardon me saying this, but we are more dangerous together, than you are alone. It's for your own good, you know. By the way, now that I'm talking to the one and only you, I'd like to ask you something." He said.  
  
"I'll tell you nothing. Even if he didn't mean to kidnap me, he still did. I'm ashamed of myself to losing to such a person, and as soon as I get the chance, I'm going to run. My brother will find me, at some point. I wouldn't want to be you then." She said it all while standing at the floor, getting more scared by the minute. She didn't want to cause the destruction of the school, and she thought that was what they were after.  
  
" Why won't you look at me?" he asked, perplexed. He put clean fingers under her chin, and using all of his strength, brought her head up to face him. When he saw the growing bruise on her cheek, he growled, deep in his throat. Heero watched him, eyes narrowing at his comrade, as Duo slowly turned around, and asked him if he had done that. Heero glared coldly at him, expecting Duo to back down like he always did when Heero turned on his Death Glare. This time, amazingly, he didn't. Dou was furious at his naïve friend.  
  
He had hit Zeben Marquis! Zeben was known to take revenge on anyone that touched her, or harmed her. It came from being an orphan. Her parents had died in a fire, Zex had told her at an early age. He had also told her her true identity. Dou turned away from the silent Heero, and returned his attentions to Zeben.  
  
"Ahm. Well, I apologize to you for Heero's sake even though I know it won't do any good. Anyway, I was wondering why both your brother and yourself have German names, when intelligence has traced you to the Sanq Kingdom?" She flinched at his question, but kept silent. Duo sighed, and went over to flop onto a torn purple couch with an ugly floral print. Heero went into the kitchen, and fixed himself a turkey sandwich stuffed with lettuce and cheese. Then he drank a glass of milk. Just looking at the refrigerator made her hungry. She pushed the hunger out of her mind, and slept. Heero glanced at the girl he had taken and sighed. He didn't know why he had hit her. She was so beautiful to him! Her hair, bloody and matted it maybe, it was strong. He had loved the feel of it between his hands when he had yanked it. He had greedily stared at those mystifying eyes that held him captive in their depths of violet. He swore, and pinched himself. Duo glanced away from the dingy television to him. He smiled, guessing what Heero was thinking.  
  
"Is Trowa coming with Quatre tonight?" Heero asked, ignoring the knowing grin.  
  
"Yup. I personally think Trowa will like Miss Marquis. Do you know that's just a codename? Zeben means seven in German. Zex means six. And you know Noin? Zex's sweetheart, her name means nine. It's a codename, but I wonder what her real name is." Duo answered, staring at his friend shrewdly. Heero looked at his friend and realized what Duo was doing. He growled.  
  
"I don't need a hobby Maxwell." He said, turning to his bedroom, where all of their computers and technology was. Duo smiled ironically as Heero quietly shut the door and booted up the computers. He got on the Internet, and ran a search engine on the name: Zeben Marquis.  
  
He found two things. One was a picture of the girl at age four, supposedly when she started training to be a warrior. She was doing gymnastics, completing a double cartwheel, and about to do a mid-air flip. He looked at her blurred face. She was unsmiling, and the color photo revealed a platinum blonde man standing behind, silently watching. The caption under the picture said it was Zex. Heero looked at the dark sunglasses that hid the man's eyes, and part of his face. Then he looked at the lean little girl. He smiled faintly. She was very determined. Then he pulled up another picture, this time of her at age fifteen. She was shooting at a dummy. Heero zoomed in on the dummy. She had hit it on the bulls-eye, it's chest, dead center. His smile turned grim. He shouldn't be feeling these emotions now. It was time for the mission, not some skinny girl who was as good as he was in martial arts, strength and durability, if not better. Then he searched under Sanq Kingdom. He found old newspaper articles about the small kingdom. It appeared that, about fourteen years ago, the Colonists had sent terrorists to the kingdom, and had set bombs up in the royal palace. The ruling king, a pacifist called King Peacecraft had died, as had the ruling Queen. Most of the servants died, but what was strange, was that the Prince and Princess had disappeared, the Princess only one year old. They had been in a royal garden miles away when it happened, and authorities had suspected that the terrorists had made a clean sweep of the Peacecrafts. Milliardo and Relena Peacecraft were still missing after a county-wide man hunt brought no results. That was what all the stories more or less said, except for one, that was printed a few years later then all of the other articles. It said that the servants for the Royals that were at the particular garden with the children had all disappeared as well.  
  
'That was no help at all.' Heero thought, frustrated. 'Wait.' * * *  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Half an hour later, Heero woke Duo, hissing his impatience. Duo had fallen asleep on the couch, watching soap operas on television. Zeben had stayed asleep. Heero pinched Duo, not lightly, on the cheek to wake him up.  
  
  
  
"Duo! You fool! I found out her true identity!" Heero was saying over and over again, looking at the sleeping girl.  
  
"Huuuuhn?" Duo's replay was muffled with sleep.  
  
"Come over here you idiot!" Heero said, almost lifting him up with impatience. Duo struggled out of the warm couch, and staggered over to Heero's bedroom. He closed the door quietly, not waking the snoozing soldier. He yawned, and rubbed his neck, looking curiously at his fellow pilot.  
  
"So? Who is she?"  
  
Heero sat down at the computer chair, and dragged another chair over beside his. Duo sat down, and looked at the data in front of him on the computer screen.  
  
"Whoa! Jeez, Heero, do you know what this means? You not only discovered her identity, but you discovered Zex's too!" Duo stared with astonishment at Heero, his face eerily shadowed by the only light; the computer screens. Heero was silent, for some reason, he didn't like the fact of what he now knew.  
  
"Yea. Duo, Zeben Marquis is actually Princess Relena Peacecraft!" He said empathetically.  
  
"Oh Man! We have Royalty in this filthy sewer of a house!" wailed Duo.  
  
"Duo, don't you think it's kind of ironic? The best, 'Perfect Soldier' a Peacecraft? I heard about them on L1. Total Pacifists. They didn't even take a side in the war. Right now the late Queen's family is ruling the country. Think about this Duo! We could ransom her to her brother or that country!" Heero said.  
  
"Man, I guess you do like her, or you wouldn't be giving her the 'Perfect Soldier Award'. Seriously Heero, do you honestly think we could ransom her? Besides, there's a reason she is hiding from her past, and we should think of that before anything else." There was a knock at the door. Three quick rasps, a pause, then two short knocks.  
  
"They're here." Duo said grimly. He opened the door and stepped out. Heero came after him, holding a clean piece of white cloth. Zeben was awake.  
  
"What are you going to-" her question ended harshly when he gagged her, tightly and wordlessly. The knocks had woken her up. She stared determinedly at Heero, trying not to let her fear slide through. Duo saw it though, and smiled reassuringly at her. She glared at him fiercely, making him laugh for a second, as Heero answered the door.  
  
The rotting door gave way to reveal three boys, all around the age of sixteen. Relena Peacecraft stared shamelessly at the group. The first one was oriental, 'Chinese', Zeben guessed. He wore his short, midnight black hair in a tiny ponytail to keep it out of his eyes. He glanced at her and sneered. He wore a white shirt that buttoned up, and white cotton pants with black slippers. His almond shaped eyes was black, and slender with suspicion.  
  
The next boy had charm, he had grace, and he had money! He was a blonde, stunningly so, and appeared naïve. He looked shocked that there was a girl here, a girl tied up. He looked questioningly at Heero and Duo. This youth was wearing a lavender shirt, with a dark purple vest over that, and a pair of long, khaki pants. The last boy to walk in walked with the grace and easiness of a tiger. He was just as dangerous as the other boys were, and Zeben knew it. He looked with sharp, intelligent green eyes to where she sat, and looked her over. This one was wearing a dark blue turtleneck, with light jeans. His brown hair fell over half of his face, just like Heero's, giving him a protection mask over his face. He nodded coldly at Zeben, and walked into the room. Heero eyes noted everything; he had seen the exchange between her, and the mysterious boy. Zeben gave them look for look, snarl for each snarl. She wasn't broken, or tame! Let anyone know it. Her feet, lying between the chair legs, hid that she could move her knees, it was just the ankles that were bound. She watched as the boys quietly sat down on the flower couch, and pulled up chairs from the kitchen to discuss things. Zeben finally got tired of hearing such things as "Hello, how's your partner?" and so on. Her head nodded, and she let it sink slowly down, her hair hiding her face. She heard someone get up to look at her. The person sighed. Then he sat down again, and started to talk.  
  
"Thanks for getting together everyone! I know we can work together to do this mission." Zeben could only see a little bit, but she saw blonde hair, so she knew which one spoke that time. "Okay guys, before we discuss the plan Trowa and I made up, I have to ask an obvious question. Why do you have a Marquis tied up, bruised, and bloody in your living room?" the blonde asked.  
  
"A woman! She is not fit to be a warrior, or soldier. I can not believe that if you were to kidnap anyone, it would be a woman!" that was the oriental one, but who was he calling inferior?  
  
"How could you tell she's a Marquis?" That would be Duo.  
  
"Blonde hair, violet eyes, and the same facial structure as her brother. Besides, she's been labeled as the 'Perfect Soldier'. I even heard she could kill in the battlefield unthinkingly. Think about it, I know we're talking about a girl, but could she pilot one of our suits?" Blondie.  
  
"Quatre! Don't even say that! I know I vouch for her well being and everything, but those Mobile Suits are for us, to defend the colonies. She's from Earth! And while we're discussing the lovely 'Bruised and bloody' lady over there, Heero did some research about her. After all, Zeben Marquis is only a codename, like Heero's name. Go on Heero." Duo, and know she knew the blonde's name was Quatre. Heero. Quatre. Duo. And who was Trowa? Somehow she knew that the secretive one was Trowa. That left one person. Mr. Sexist.  
  
"Okay, here's what I found on one Zeben Marquis. Birth date, birth certificate all unknown. Hair: goldenrod. Eyes: violet. Age: undetermined, about fifteen. Relatives: Zex Marquis, brother. That's her most obvious traits, but I've found that she's actually from the Sanq Kingdom. Her real name is Princess Relena Peacecraft. She, and her brother, are royalty who supposedly disappeared fourteen years ago. Zex is really Prince Milliardo Peacecraft, heir to the throne of the Sanq Kingdom. The only thing I can't figure out is why they disappeared. 


	2. MORE STUFF AHEAD

"Okay, here's what I found on one Zeben Marquis. Birth date, birth certificate all unknown. Hair: goldenrod. Eyes: violet. Age: undetermined, about fifteen. Relatives: Zex Marquis, brother. That's her most obvious traits, but I've found that she's actually from the Sanq Kingdom. Her real name is Princess Relena Peacecraft." Zeben's eyes grew wide, and it took all of her training to not gasp aloud. Mentally she was kicking herself. She realized that she had tuned out the boys and came back to her senses. "She, and her brother, are royalty who supposedly disappeared fourteen years ago. Zex is really Prince Milliardo Peacecraft, heir to the throne of the Sanc Kingdom. The only thing I can't figure out is why they disappeared." Heero said in his deep, emotionless voice.  
  
"Don't worry Heero, you'll find out. Why don't you just ask her?"  
  
Zeben/Relena shivered. The one that had spoken had been Trowa. His voice sent chills of fear down her spine. Of them all, it was him she feared the most, because of what Duo had said when he thought she had been asleep. She knew that she didn't like him, but it still scared her, and now he knew that she had been awake! She heard rustling, and everyone in the room looked at her. Her face throbbed; the bruise was still spreading, even an hour after the contact had happened.  
  
'He'll pay for that.' She thought resolutely to herself. She held her head still, then slowly raised it. Duo came over and untied the gag, because he sensed that she wanted to speak. Heero growled, but Duo ignored him. She glared at everyone in turn. Mr. Sexist, who glowered at being tricked by a woman, Quatre, who smiled good naturally back, Duo, who looked seriously at her from the couch where he had returned, Trowa, who studied her fierce gaze intently, and last, to Heero, who glared at her with as much intensity of as her own. Finally, Duo told the group, " Zeben Marquise, I'd like you to meet my friends. I know you know Heero, but here they are. Let me introduce Trowa Barton, Wufei Chang, and Quatre Raberbra Winner. We're mechanics, and we specialize in Mobile Suits-"  
  
"For the colonists!" She spat at him, immediately regretting what she had said. They were all colonists, and Duo was nice. But her training had taken over, and she forced her mouth into an unwavering straight line. Her eye's, before she turned them cold, and unfeeling, had been remorseful. Heero smiled, but it was one without humor. Zeben continued talking monotonously,  
  
"The Alliance knows you. You are the Gundanium Pilots working for the Barton Foundation," here Trowa glanced at her, angry surprise in his eyes. She ignored him, and went on, "to take control of the earth. I am no fool. From what I've heard, My brother is Heero Yuy's worst enemy, and that person," she nodded to Wufei, "has Treize's death wish." Quatre and Duo looked at each other. Wufei stood up, and remarked harshly,  
  
"It wouldn't take much to make this pretty bird sing. I uphold justice, which says we cannot let her go. Let her tell us all she knows of us, then dispose of her." He turned to face Zeben. "This is a war. We fight to win."  
  
With that comment hanging heavy in the air, they split up, to share the couch and guestrooms for their bedrooms. After that, the group left, supposedly to have dinner. Before he left, Duo slipped Zeben a small biscuit and whispered to the fallen princess, "I know what it's like to be hungry. I couldn't get any more. I'm sorry. Listen, here's my beeper, if you get into trouble, call me. Press the big green button. Gotta go, man, if Heero caught me at that military school, I'd all ready be a bloody pulp. Bye!" he said cheerfully. She whispered her thanks then hung her head and pushed the pager out of view. He left, closing the door with a slam, shouting, "Wait up guys!" She didn't expect to be alone long. Either that Heero, or... Zeben refused to think about the other option, and started the slow motion of bending her body, so that her tied hands could reach her other knife in her other shoe. She was wearing comfortable white tennis shoes, which had been modified. They had extra traction, and had small compartments built in. One of these held explosives. Another held matches. There were two more compartments, two on either shoe, and both held weapons. Her body screamed in agony, her muscles; cramped and fatigued didn't like this stretch even under ordinary circumstances. Zeben groaned, thinking she was alone, and her hand grasped her salvation. The other knife drew out of it's miniature scabbard, and she sat up again, pointing the sharp object upwards, and started to saw through the thick, heavy ropes that bound her hands. Very carefully, slowly, the bits of rope that had captured her fell to the dirty floor.  
  
She then untied her ankles; both rubbed raw, and red. Then she jumped slightly when someone touched her arm. She looked quickly; her eyes were accustomed to the darkness.  
  
It was Trowa Barton.  
  
She stifled a frightened gasp, as a soldier, it wouldn't do to let her enemy know a weakness. She frowned at the lean boy. He looked coldly back, letting go of her, and leaning against the wall, folding his arms. She slowly let her hands back into where they should be, were they tied. She pretended that they remained so, and stared frankly at her guard.  
  
'I bet he's going to notice that. How should I get out of this mess? Should I knock him unconscious? Somehow I don't think so.' She thought woefully, not letting her expression change. She let her breath out slowly, looking out of the corner of her eyes at him. Trowa moved behind her, and whispered to the girl's ear,  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
She shivered convulsively; his voice could sound evil when he wanted it to. She hoped that the cat-like boy would leave her alone. No dice.  
  
"Answer me!" he said forcefully, turning the chair to face him, gripped her shirt, and forced her back to the wall. Zeben wasn't going to stand for that. She swung her balled up fists at his face in a movement so practiced, so fast, that to her it was like breathing. She hit him hard enough so that he let go of her. He slumped to the floor, but as she ran to the door, he tripped her with one of his feet. She flew to the floor, her breath knocked out of her for the moment. She swung her legs up, and used that momentum to lift her body off of the floor, and straight into a knuckled fist.  
  
She staggered for a moment; her nose began to bleed, slowly trickling onto her mouth. She spit the crimson stream out of the way of her mouth, and it flew to the floor. She crouched into a defensive position, and hid her knife behind a leg, her sinews strained, eager for battle. He drew in, quick as a flash, and punched her hard in the stomach.  
  
She swiftly drew a line of blood across his cheek with her knife. He clapped a hand to his cheek; the wound was deep. She knew she was hurt badly, that punch would have knocked out a lesser woman, or man. She grimaced; she could taste blood from internal bleeding. She knew that she couldn't escape if she paged Duo, but if she did, she wouldn't get the hell beaten out of her.  
  
She narrowed her eyes, looking fiercely at Trowa. She would die before she gave him any information about her school, or how she got her facts about the Gundams and their pilots. Then, she resigned herself. If she didn't page Duo, she could be killed, or worse. She didn't know what this boy of sixteen could do. She had remembered her statistics of the Gundam pilots. Trowa was the oldest one; the rest were around fifteen.  
  
She drew the gray gadget out of her pocket, behind her back, and pressed down hard on the big green button.  
  
* * *  
  
Duo sulked. It wasn't the best idea to go to a mall for pizza with Heero, Quatre, and Wufei. Especially after an episode with a girl-spy. He heard some short, mechanical beeps, and looked around to see whose it was. Then he realized with a start that it was coming from his pager. He looked very grim now. There was only one person that could be from.  
  
Zeben.  
  
He suddenly realized that Trowa wasn't with them. Duo slapped his head in a startling movement. Heero glanced up from his stormy glare. Quatre looked surprise at his mild mannered friend. Duo leaped up, and his chair clattered to the floor.  
  
"Quatre, could you come with me buddy? I need to make a call." Quatre nodded weakly, and followed his friend, who was already half way across the mall, heading towards the exit.  
  
Heero thought with surprise, "He's acting really odd today, is it because of Zeben?" And he promptly started daydreaming about the stubborn girl warrior. He thought about how she could move like lightning. How she could actually hurt him. He shook himself, and thought that he shouldn't be thinking about his weakness. He was thinking so hard, he didn't notice Chang get up, and quietly follow Duo and Quatre. When he finally noticed he was alone, he leaped up, knowing what the cause for their disappearance was. Ignoring the pizzeria's angry owners, he leapt up, and ran to the waiting Wufei, to leap into his car.  
  
Duo drove like crazy, skipping red lights, and speeding over empty highways. Quatre stared under his blond hair at his panic stricken friend. He wondered at the change in him. A few minutes ago, before his beeper had been paged, he had been bored. Now he was frantic, anxious, and panicky. Duo's eyes also held anger. He guessed what was happening. He slammed into the parking lot, and leaped out of the car. Duo raced up the stairs, avoiding the broken ones.  
  
In contrast, Quatre climbed placidly up the stairs. He had no idea what was going on, but if it upset Duo, then it would mortify everyone else. So he climbed, up to their level. Duo was already in the room.  
  
Quatre noticed with horror that there was blood on the floor and around the chair where Zeben had sat. He saw signs of a struggle, and looked over to Duo, who was facing the couch. There was Trowa, bloody and bruised, he was on the floor, slumped over. On the couch, sprawled as if she had fainted, lay Zeben, horribly injured, and bleeding from tens of cuts, some big, some small. The crimson liquid seeped down into the floral print, turning the couch a deep, sickening scarlet. Duo moaned, and pulled his hair.  
  
Quatre went over to Zeben and checked for life signs. She had a faint pulse, and Quatre realized that they had to take her to the hospital, not only to give her blood, but also to make sure she was all right. Duo went over to Trowa, and sat him against the wall. He was coming to.  
  
Trowa's green eyes flickered open, momentarily confused, but that soon vanished into furious hatred that emitted from his body like a wave. He took a step towards the place he thought Zeben was, and froze. Staring at him were four eyes, two in curiosity, and two in anger. He settled his facial mask over himself, becoming calm and cold as steel. He nodded to Quatre, glanced at Duo, then started to the door. Duo took two strides and was blocking his way firmly with his agile body.  
  
Trowa looked at Duo hard, trying to intimidate him, seeking to avoid a confrontation. His body was too weak from fighting right now. The soldier had been good. He looked up at the two new arrivals on the scene as their feet pounded on the rickety stairs. Heero rushed into the room, closely followed by Chang. The Chinese man stopped when he saw his comrade covered in blood, and walked himself over to the sleeping girl.  
  
"That-" he had swung his hand at her barely recognizable face. His hand stopped in mid-air, met by steely sinew, and a blocking hand. She had opened her eyes, only a fraction, to stare at the man who was pushing against her restraining arm.  
  
"I-I" she tried to talk, her swollen muscles made her sound like she was croaking. Her neck was turning into a sunset bruise, blue and red and orange and yellow. She swallowed very slowly, and Heero stared at the girl. She was holding back Wufei, and she was barely conscience.  
  
She tried talking again, "I didn't" she coughed up blood, and tried to continue, "Mean to get in- involved with t-this. I-I'm s-sorry." She stuttered before letting herself sink into blackness, as she had after she had beaten Barton. Quatre started to pick her up, but Heero pushed his way through, and lifted her as easily as he would a rag doll. Her blood ran over his arms, and he gently wrapped her into a bed sheet. Then he went down the stairs, Quatre following him. Duo stayed, still blocking Trowa, and Wufei was behind Duo, nearest to the door, trying to control his raging emotions.  
  
The girl had been as strong as he was, while she had been mortally or very badly wounded. Duo looked as angry as he could stood defiantly in front of his enigmatic friend.  
  
"What did you do to her? Did you-" Duo started, only to be cut short.  
  
"No." Trowa said coldly, knowing what Duo was going to say. Wufei nodded his face sternly cold at the auburn haired boy who was being questioned, telling him to go on. Trowa glanced at the door, then at the barred windows.  
  
"Don't even think about it." Duo said, folding his arms across his body resolutely. Trowa knew then that he was going to have to tell the truth about what happened. He sighed quietly, not letting anyone hear him. He knew that he couldn't tell the truth, it would betray him.  
  
"She had a knife. She slit her bonds, and I tapped her to let her know I was on guard and watching."  
  
"We didn't tell you to watch her!" Duo exploded, but Wufei gave him a look, so he quieted to hear the rest of the story.  
  
"She swung herself up, and I grabbed her so she wouldn't escape. She hit me- damn she hits hard!" He said, briefly touching his face, where a gigantic bruise was forming, to Trowa's disgust. Duo motioned his hand, urging him to go on.  
  
"I fell, and she ran to the door. I tripped her, and she fell pretty hard. She must have taken karate, and a lot of gymnastics, because she swung her legs up, and used her momentum to stand up from the floor. She went headlong into my fist. I hit her in the face, and she staggered back, away from me. She hid her knife behind her back, and I rushed her, punched her hard in the stomach, figuring to knock her out. She reacted faster than even Wufei would have. She cut me across the cheek," here he clasped his hand to the member in question, wincing where his infected hands touched the edges of the skin, "And stepped back. She put her hand behind her back, and I heard a beeping. I thought she was arming an explosive, so I ran at her. She couldn't avoid me, so she swung at my feet, and I fell on her, and crushed some kind of mechanical devise. I think it was a pager. Then she slowly got up, and she ran to the door. I grabbed her around her waist, and swung her up. By that time, we were both tiring amazingly, me more than her. She still had the knife, so I slammed her hand against the wall and knocked it out of her hand. I didn't see her leg come out to kick me from the floor. She had fallen. It hit me... you know where, and she gave me a few brutal blows, and I passed out. She must have dragged me over to the floor, away from the door. I don't know why. Her strategically plan had many faults. Yet she beat me, and I suppose fainted, as women will. Now, let me ask you something. How did you know to come to," his face burned with fury, "Her aid?"  
  
"Duo led us here. I suppose the mechanical device you crushed was his pager, which he gave to the girl for comfort. He rushed out quite unceremoniously." Wufei said, guessing correctly.  
  
"Good thing I did, or he might have done something we would all regret. Let's catch up to Heero and Quatre. I guess they're already at the hospital." Duo said, turning his back to Trowa. Wufei turned around as well, missing the murderous glare that Trowa sent Duo.  
  
'If he hadn't come, I would have had my questions answered, and her.' Trowa thought, containing his looks again.  
  
They left the house, and drove to the nearest hospital, which was actually the best one in the city. Trowa smiled ironically as he maneuvered around the many other cars. He knew why Heero had brought her to the best possible one there was, besides the time for the ride. He wiped the smile off his face as Duo and Wufei both got out of the now-parked blue car. They were in a full parking lot. Nearby they spotted Heero's illegal car.  
  
They ran to the Emergency room, pushing open the double doors, and rushing into the clean, sterilized, orderly environment. They walked over to the register, and Wufei calmly asked the nurse behind the counter,  
  
We have a friend who was sent here. She was grievously injured, and we would like to know where she is." The nurse, a girl with dark purple hair in a bun, looked at her computer screen.  
  
"Would she by chance have come in with two men, one named One Lowe Junior?" she asked in a loud voice.  
  
"Yes." Said Duo.  
  
"Follow me to her waiting room. She is currently in surgery." She walked primly up to an elevator, and pushed the big number green. She small talked to the three boys as they rode up.  
  
"The men who came with her said she was in an accident, but it was apparent that she was in a fight. She had a good build too. Doctor McRidge noticed that immediately. Doctor McRidge shouldn't work with women patients, if you catch my drift," she glanced coyly at Duo, who had gone cold.  
  
The elevator dinged, and the lady gossip stepped onto the floor. Her little shoes click-clacked on the clean floor. Then they were in a rather large room. It smelled as clean as it looked. Two older teenagers occupied it. Heero paced the floor in a restless way, and Quatre sat and read a magazine, half reading, half looking out of the window. The nurse left, just as Heero noticed Trowa and the others.  
  
He almost threw himself at Trowa, then remembered where he was, and held still, gazing at his bruised and battered friend who had almost killed the woman that he knew could provide valuable information. The window showed the operation on Zeben, happening below. Duo went and watched, and saw her form, so deeply unconscious, it looked like she was dead. He turned away from the disturbing image below, and went to sit in one of the uncomfortable chairs that lined the wall. He sat, and asked Quatre,  
  
"How is she? What are they doing to her?"  
  
Quatre didn't respond right away. He slowly put down his magazine. Duo was chilled to read the cover:  
  
Zeben Marquise Kidnapped! Exclusive Interview with Brother!  
  
Quatre started talking.  
  
"She has to have quite a lot of blood Duo. As soon as they saw Heero walk in with her blood all over him," it was true, Heero's clothes were a dark red color, "They had doctors and nurses all over her. She went on a stretcher straight to surgery. They estimate she'll be in there about three hours." Before he could continue, Duo erupted,  
  
"Three Hours?!"  
  
"Duo hush! There are a lot of things they need to check, and a lot of things they need to do." Quatre said. Wufei was the one who asked a question.  
  
"Three hours seems unreasonable for just a blood donation and check up, unless there's something Trowa hasn't told us, or something you two haven't told us."  
  
There was silence.  
  
Heero glared at them all then whispered to Wufei. He whispered back. Then Heero said, "I don't believe it."  
  
Trowa stared at his fellow comrade, and started when Heero said, "She's been beaten badly Trowa. What did you do to her?"  
  
"Self defense." He said sullenly in return.  
  
"Bull. You stayed to watch her! Not to beat her senseless. Did you know they've already got someone looking at our so-called files? They all ready noticed her bruises from when I hit her and kidnapped her! Go ahead, talk freely, Quatre and I have already removed the bugs under the chairs." Heero folded his arms, waiting expectantly for an answer.  
  
Trowa looked at his comrades in arms, and looked quickly at the windows and door, calculating how long it would take him to reach them. If he jumped through the window, he could finish off the girl before she talked, but it seems she all ready had. His manner turned burly, he realized how hard this would be. He would have to be the very definition of tact and diplomacy. He sighed and put on a blank face, but his voice and manner were still icy and impassive.  
  
"She hurt herself pretty bad. I think her knife-" Amazingly, it was Quatre who interrupted his short explanation.  
  
"Her knife was imbedded in her stomach!" Quatre shouted. Everyone looked at the usually cool and calm blonde.  
  
"Trowa, if you were fighting her in self defense, why is her own knife, for I know you don't carry one, in her stomach?"  
  
Trowa didn't answer. Duo didn't think he could. Wufei had gone white. To him, it was a great dishonor to hurt your opponent after she was down. And it looked like that had happened. He swore under his breath.  
  
"Trowa... why did you stab her if she was attacking you? Were you trying to stop her from leaving or something? Maybe we would understand you then." Quatre tried to reason with his friend, but his own voice turned harsh when he voiced his next opinion, "Or where you trying to find something out from her? Trying to use her? Or... or were you trying to kidnap her away from us?" Heero looked surprised at his friend. That was so many reasons he could have hurt her it made his head get a little dizzy. He glanced down at the starched white doctors and noticed how they were grimly removing the knife. It had been imbedded so deeply into her skin that when Heero had picked her up; he hadn't even felt it. The doctors had told them that she had it in her when she had taken a x-ray.  
  
Trowa looked into his friend's eyes and saw pain, and anguish. They didn't understand why he had attacked a girl. They were forgetting which girl they were talking about. This was Relena Peacecraft, alias Zeben Marquise! She was a killing machine. Now, she could quite possibly die.  
  
That thought made him smile faintly. The next didn't. He saw a flutter of platinum blonde hair, and army uniform outside of the room, via the small window on the door. Trowa ducked, and the others were smart enough to follow suit without talking or asking questions. Trowa thought to himself, 'Damn! That's Zech!' before a nurse came in. She looked suspiciously at the five boys before starting to talk.  
  
"Excuse me- are you a Mr. ah, Lowe? Odin Lowe Jr.? The doctors will see you now. Please follow me to his office." She said, glancing around the room one last time before sweeping out in her white attire. Heero stood up, glared at them all, and then followed the nurse out of the room. She led him to a clean, sanitized room, where a surgeon was tiredly taking off his bloody gloves and his mask. He looked at Heero, and then motioned to a seat. Heero sat down, as the surgeon rested. He then started to talk to Heero, who listened closely.  
  
"I can't stay long. We've been taking shifts, but at this stage, they need me. Your friend has been through a lot. The knife came out, but it had caused a lot of damage, being moved around and all. I don't blame you for moving her and all, but I still don't really believe your story. This knife was in very deep, a large stab wound. It doesn't look like she was molested, but it does look like she was beaten. I believe I have to file a case." Heero started, he hadn't thought that Zeben had been hurt so badly, despite what the doctors had told him. He growled.  
  
'Trowa...' he thought angrily. He stared at his clenched fists, and slowly uncoiled them.  
  
"Excuse me, but I have limited time. Do you want me to file a search against her attacker, or can I assume that you will find this person, and make sure that he, or she doesn't ever do this again." Heero looked uncertain and said, "I know the person a little, I'll do as you say. Mission accepted."  
  
The doctor ignored the odd choice of words. "Normally, I don't allow this to happen, but I'll put it under the register as accidental. Now please, go back to your sitting room. I must go complete the surgery. We will be done in about an hour. Go tell your companions." The tired doctor left, leaving Heero with an odd, pleasant feeling inside of him. An Earther had helped him. Perhaps there was hope for the colonies and Earth to get along.  
  
Heero left the small room, and went quickly back to the room, where a few people were waiting anxiously for word of Zeben's recovery, or... otherwise. Duo sat up straight when Heero returned, and motioned away from the door. Heero instinctively ducked, and rolled toward Duo. 'What?' he mouthed to his drawn friend. Duo mouthed back, as they could all read lips, 'Trowa saw Zech in the hospital!' Heero glanced furiously at his silent friend.  
  
Trowa motioned over to Heero. When Heero reached him by crawling, they conversed quietly and as they finished talking, Heero glanced at Zeben's unconscious head, and heard his voice as he promised to the doctor that he would watch over Trowa, make sure he didn't hurt anyone. "Mission Accepted." The infamous words of his life.  
  
Finally he stopped talking to Trowa, and slithered across the floor towards his other companions. He quietly told him their plan.  
  
"Trowa is going to 'distract' the guards while we run. With the fake name I gave the doctors for Zeben, we hopefully won't see him at all. We have to leave Zeben Duo." He firmly told his scowling companion. "She could be the key to escape, or capture." Wufei nodded, and slowly moved stealthily to the door to peer out. He came back, reporting that there were two hospital guards. Quatre nodded, and motioned for Trowa to go. He did, and took them out. Knocked unconscious, they were too conspicuous, so he dragged them into their room, and quickly closed their door. Heero looked over for a last glance of Zeben, and the doctor who had helped him, no questions asked.  
  
He found that Duo was there, staring with yearning towards the one person that Heero thought that he could acknowledge as an equal. Heero's face turned towards a scowl, and propelled Duo away from the gory scene, and towards the front of the door. Duo gulped, grinned in his own fashion, and started running towards the elevator door. He ran in, barely winded and motioned for his friends to follow him. He held the door open, using the button labeled, 'Door Open'. Trowa rushed down, followed closely by Wufei.  
  
Heero Yuy was last, and couldn't repress a sigh. He turned for one last glance of the golden haired fighter that had come into his life, and bolted out of the door, straight to the elevator, not a second too late. The doors slammed shut with a snap right after he landed in the elevator. He glared at Duo as he offered to help him up from the floor, after he landed wrong after a running leap.  
  
Duo smiled cheerfully, knowing that Heero was always surly. The occasion didn't lessen the feeling with the others. Wufei snapped at every one who talked to him, whether it was because they had left behind a girl who knew too much, or because the elevator was very slow. Trowa stared at everyone, and those who looked back were so uncomfortable that they squirmed until Trowa desisted. Quatre was sullen, very unlike the usual rich-boy. Heero leaned against the wall until the elevator dinged. Then they slowly walked out, and Heero left a fake address that they had prepared beforehand. They left, and climbed into their respective cars. Trowa and Quatre, both driving the different cars, carefully steered into their crummy apartment. Heero trudged slowly up, and looked over at the setting sun. He changed into another pair of forest green shirt, and black biker shorts. He removed his shoes by the door of his bedroom. He crawled into his bed.  
  
"What a day." He mumbled before sinking into a light sleep. Duo shut the door, knowing that Heero would wake if he heard that his fellow friends were conversing. Duo chuckled as he walked back to the group, avoiding the bloody couch. Instead he sat on a chair. Quatre noticed the laugh.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"It's Heero. Usually he doesn't sleep at all. When he does, he only doses. This kind of sleep, it's like a coma. For him." Duo answered.  
  
They all quietly laughed, all except Wufei, who stood looking down on them. Finally he spoke, and his words were so serious, so depressing, that they all were quiet almost simultaneously.  
  
"We are giggling like school children while our enemies might be purging information from the girl-spy. You are insane if you believe that we are going to leave that person at the hospital. We will retrieve her tomorrow morning, and she will return with Quatre to his Magnac Corps. That way we will all be emotionally distanced from this woman." It was then that everyone knew what Duo thought, for he exploded in such intensity that everyone, except for Trowa drew back.  
  
"'That Woman' was stronger than you will ever be! Even when she had a knife in her stomach," Heero had told them all about what the doctor said, except for the promise of course, "That 'Woman' continued to fight for her life. She had withstood Trowa's anger, Heero's onslaught, and the horror of being here, without food or water, and not once complaining." His voice lowered until Wufei had to strain his ears to hear the rest. "'That Woman' lost her parents, friends, and home before she was four. So you shut up that about 'That Woman'." He finished his speech, and feel back against his chair. The others stared at him, wondering at Duo's display of emotion. Usually he was just cheerful and out going. This response was amazing, and from Duo no less!...  
  
The group separated to sleep. As Duo settled on the floor, he pondered everything he had heard today, and tried to piece together everything that had happened during Trowa and Zeben's fight. He tried to imagine how it had happened by the blood on the floor, but Duo was no tracker, or hunter. The only tracking he ever did was searching on the Internet.  
  
Duo sighed, and then resigned himself to a fitful sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Zeben had groggily awoken from her sedatives, to find that she wasn't alone. She slowly rolled her eyes, and thought, 'Isn't this familiar.' The person inside slowly rolled up the window. Zeben tried to move, to call the nurse, but her body screamed in agony, the stitches straining against her skin. She barely suppressed a scream before a hand clasped harshly against her mouth. She struggled slowly, trying to throw off the drugs before they killed her. Her attacker lifted her gently up, then bundled her in a crisp white sheet. Her threw her over his shoulders, and start to the door. Even though she regretted it, her mouth opened in a scream, and it tore out of her body, containing all the abuses she had with held before. It swirled down the hallway, waking doctors and personnel. Zech Marquise, subjecting the hospital to a rigorous test, started. He knew that voice. He quickly ran out of the current room he was in, and bolted down the hall, ending in Zeben's room. He arrived just in time to see a robed and masked attacker, with a bundle of white, jump of the window. In the bundle of white, Zech saw a glimmer of golden hair, and he rushed faster to the window, and without hesitation leaped to the hard green ground below. He pursued the intruder, and narrowly avoided being missed by a few stray bullets. He slowed and stopped when he turned a corner, and lost his prey. He kept running, and saw a mobile suit in the distance take flight. He sank to his knees. Being so close to his lost sister, yet so far, frustrated him beyond belief. He let out a throaty growl, then raised his clenched hands to the heavens and swore;  
  
"I vow that these kidnappers will pay, if only in their blood, but more so in their hearts!" in his deep, raspy voice. The stars twinkled in silent reply, hiding answers, and asking silent questions.  
  
In the meantime, Zeben's questions had gone unanswered, except in blows and hits. She had been taken to an underground base, complete with a bed, and a small refrigerator. When the guards had shoved her in, she had first searched for hidden microphones and cameras, even though movements of any kind made her nauseous. She pulled the plug on the one under the mattress, and the one inside the refrigerator bulb. She had refused the food in the fridge, which was well stocked; she took a small, anxious nap. When she awoke, a guard stood over her, breathing down her neck.  
  
She got up slowly, and limped after the guard. She was lead into a room that was dark, except for a single light, which was placed next to a supple leather chair. Two guards stood next to it, and motioned for her to sit. There was a desk in front, or a long desk, but it was hard to tell in the darkness. There were darker patches there, so Zeben assumed they were people. They were shrouded in shadows and they asked her question after question. Some were about herself, but most were about the men who had kidnapped her. She remained silent and elegant through out their questions, and only returned them with her own. It was hard to remain like this with blood slowly seeping out of her stitches, and her head aching from where Heero had yanked it.  
  
"Where are the Gundam pilots now?" this one had a slight accent. From where his voice came from, he was directly in the middle. Maybe he was from England, or somewhere else in Europe. He was obviously important.  
  
"Who are you people?" she countered, only to be smartly slapped from her guards. She grimaced, tasting blood in her cheek as her swollen bruise cut across her teeth.  
  
"You are to remain silent. If you do not immediately answer my superior's questions you will return to your cell, after which you will be beaten." The soldier stated, staring at her coldly, unfeelingly.  
  
She shivered. She was raised to take beating after beating, but to put that theory into practice was taking some getting used to. Another beating so soon after her operation was unendurable, but through which she would have to endure. Somehow she knew that she must stay silent about her kidnappers. Besides, she was never one to give in through torture.  
  
"Who are the ones piloting the Gundams?" the one with the accent roared, pounding his hand on the table in frustration.  
  
"I don't know any Gundam pilots! I'm only a lowly civilian, I don't know what you want!" Zeben spat at the man. The guard hauled her up, and dragged her off into the darkness.  
  
* * *  
  
Heero awoke slightly uneasy and remembered why very soon. He jumped out of his rickety bed, and called to Duo and Wufei, who were sleeping on the floor. Duo was sprawled all over, but Wufei slept with his hands folded on top off his chest, which rose and fell rhythmically with his slow, easy breathing. He opened his eyes calmly, and got up gracefully. He stretched his body in turns, finally doing flips to get his body into shape for the rough day ahead. Duo woke up with snorts and groans, and when Heero shook him by the shoulders roughly, he mumbled through his thin blanket, "five more minutes..."  
  
Eventually, Heero grew tired of this, and kicked him in the small of his back. Duo cried out, and he was fully awake. Duo smiled, wincing as he rubbed his back.  
  
"Couldn't resist. I'd like to know what we are doing today that is so important." He sat up, and crossed his legs now, with his hands around his ankles, and his long braid hung down on his shoulder. He face pouted now, his mouth in a childish frown.  
  
"I mean, come on. A guys gotta get his beauty sleep if he's gonna pick up a gorgeous girl from the hospital today." He grinned and ducked Heero's fist, but he didn't miss the kick from Wufei. He yelped, and rubbed his sore back. Wufei didn't smile. He looked deadly serious.  
  
"I tire of your antics Duo. I have a feeling something is wrong. We should collect the girl, and move to another location, before Marquise and Treize catch on to us. Let's go." Heero followed silently. Duo put his hand behind his head and sighed.  
  
"Those two just can't take a joke. Oh well! Time to go save a damsel in distress." And off they went. When they arrived at the hospital, it was pandemonium. Police officers in navy blue waved back civilians, and Wufei stopped short. Treize was there! He was standing there conversing with Zech Marquise. Wufei reached for his hidden weapon. He was going to end his life right now, for what he did to Nataku, his dead wife of the Long Clan. She had died on their colony defending it from Treize's armies, who were going to destroy the colony, and the inhabitants with it. Treize deserved no less for his wanton destruction of life. Wufei's face was already contorting with rage. He would have marched right up to that man if Duo's arm hadn't grabbed him tightly. Wufei turned around, snarling, and was about to hit the cheerful, happy-go-lucky pilot next to him, when he saw Duo's expression. He was grim, silent, and. Almost menacing. Wufei stopped short, and looked where Duo kept glancing. All three men eavesdropped on the chief of police's report.  
  
"...Room 3Ab sir. They had someone come through the window, take the patient in that room, and escape through said window. Footprints indicate the attacker was male, older than twenty. The attacker had an accomplice; he was picked up in some sort of transportation vehicle. We suspect that it was a mobile suit, for the witness in question saw a mobile suit take off. The patient in question's name was..." he flipped through his note hurriedly; talking to his superior made this portly man nervous.  
  
"Ah, here it is. Her name was Mary. That's all they got on her sir. One Odin Lowe Jr. brought her in. He disappeared shortly after dropping her off, and speaking with the head surgeon. He was with four other individuals, all male, and all around the age of sixteen. They disappeared with Mr. Lowe Jr. Sir." The police chief was sweating bullets now, staring at his superior with terror.  
  
"Anything else, chief?" the shadowed superior asked in a drawl, enjoying the fear he inspired in the hearts of lesser men. He turned toward the chief again, and asked, "Who was the witness?"  
  
"Sir, it was Captain Zech Marquise, he thought that the person was his kidnapped sister, but he didn't get close enough to actually see the kidnapped person. Sir." His over-seer nodded, pleased with their information on the subject. He turned around, and caught sight of Zech.  
  
"Excuse me." He said shortly, catching up to the two important officials. They conferred in low vices; finally the prime detective led the two men into the hospital. Duo looked grim.  
  
"Give ya five guesses to who they're talkin' 'bout." He said, with his eyes looking into the future. He continued, holding up a finger for each guess. "Me, Heero, Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa. That about sums it up, now lets get out of here." He said in his boyish voice, walking quickly to the nearest abandoned alley.  
  
And they were gone, jumping away from lights and leaping on to building tops. Wufei and Trowa both executed flips and turns in the air. They both returned to the apartment, and soon after, the others arrived and began to pack their equipment into duffel bags. The computers and hacking equipment went first, followed by the toiletries and cooking utensils in another black durable bag. The computer expert, Duo, looked sullen at the fact that he wouldn't be seeing his precious hardware soon. They were leaving, and leaving soon.  
  
* * *  
  
They were all packed, and Rasid was helping carry Quatre's bags to their base in the smell forest where they were stationed. He looked at Duo menacingly, and turned to help his master. The other 39 Magnacs were all cheering.  
  
Quatre blushed lightly, then said, "Thank you, thank you, I'm glad to be back as well," in his clear voice.  
  
"We are here to stay for a brief period of time. We, uh, ran into some trouble at the school." He continued, glancing at Heero before continuing. "Have any of you heard of the Marquise's?" there were a few groans, and one person even gagged.  
  
"Master Quatre, the Mr. Marquise apprehended us once. To say that he's ruthless is an understatement. The only reason we're all here is because Rasid rescued us." One man said, glancing around the group as he did so. There were a few hurrahs around the group, but most were staring expectantly at their master, waiting to for him to fill them in with information about his trouble with the Marquises.  
  
"We had a little problem with the Ms. Marquise." Quatre said, almost hesitantly. The group gazed at each other first, then back to the Gundam pilots. Then one of them whispered into the silence, "You mean...Zeben Marquise? The blonde chick in Gabriel's school... uh oh." The men proudly born from test tubes all gazed at the Gundam boys again.  
  
"Well, she's hot..." one man said slowly, then cringed when Heero glared at him.  
  
"Master Quatre, perhaps we should retire, and I shall tell the men what you want me to tell." Rasid said, gesturing to the main tent. Quatre nodded gratefully, and motioned for his friends to follow him. They each stepped under the tent flap, and entered a room with extensions for bathrooms and kitchen areas.  
  
The main room consisted of soft carpets, and lightly glowing oil lamps. The boys took seats on leather couches that had seen better days, but were soft and supple. Wufei looked at the comfortable couch, but instead chose a hard wooden chair, that had obviously been whittled by one of the devoted men. Quatre went over to the wooden case against one of the tent's walls. He caressed the shiny wood, lovingly stroking it with the palms of his hands. He smiled brightly at Rasid, who beamed with pleasure at following his master's wishes. Quatre opened the cabinet and took out the prize possession: his violin. He took it out, and his bow, and slowly drew it across the polished string instrument. From out of the violin came the sound of an experienced musician. It was pure sound and melody. Trowa went to the cabinet and pulled out a flute and joined him. They both made a good contrast, and the room was soon filled with their songs. Trowa was the first one to stop. He came and gently took the instrument out of Quatre's hands, and placed both the flute and violin in the sealed dresser.  
  
Quatre sat on the couch, and flashed Rasid another smile, saying "Thank you Rasid. It was like coming home again." Rasid grinned, and replied "Master Quatre, to us, you are coming home. Now, let us get down to business. I suppose these four have something to do with the Marquise girl you mentioned, as you do."  
  
Quatre nodded, and proceeded to tell the story, with help from any of the other Gundanium pilots. Trowa was deep in thought when the story ended. Finally he voiced several things the pilots knew had to be thought, talked and progressed upon.  
  
" First of all, we need to discover who has taken Zeben-"  
  
"Oh, are we on a first name basis now Trowa?" Duo interrupted fiercely, but quieted, albeit slowly under Wufei's stern gaze. "Continue." Wufei commanded Trowa. He continued in his intelligent, cold voice.  
  
"First of all we need to discover who has taken Zeben, where and why. Second of all we need to find Zeben. We also have to complete our mission against Gabriel. They've been turning out more and more soldiers. We need to disable the school, and quickly. Also." he hesitated. He looked at Heero, then went on. "I don't know what you guys have planned, but I don't think we should kill the Marquise girl. We could train her for the colonists, take her to the Doctors, or even ransom her. From what we've learned, she is very valuable to a certain country in Europe-" again, he was interrupted.  
  
This time it was Quatre who protested.  
  
"She wouldn't want to you guys! She'd be like a caged bird!" he continued, oblivious to Rasid's presence. "The Peacecrafts would disown her, or turn her into a pacifist! If she's feral now, think about how she'll be when we take her there! Besides, why did she and her brother disappear the day they did? Maybe they wanted to! I say we rescue Miss Zeben, yes, but we take her to meet the Doctors and understand what we're fighting for! I know she would." He ended suddenly, determined.  
  
Heero gazed at his companions, and inside he wondered why he agreed with Quatre. She was an Earther, she would kill him the first chance she could, and she knew too much. Three logical reasons why he should kill her, just there. He was sure he could think of more, if given the time. Instead, he pondered why he didn't want to kill the girl. Then he stopped thinking all together, afraid of what he would find, or realize. Wufei glanced around the group stonily, then grudgingly offered to find Zeben. Duo would go with him, and Heero and Quatre would get her out. Trowa was the spy, going to Gabriels School, and keeping a look out of how many soldiers graduated from the academy each day. Everyone went off to sleep, waiting for the touch of rosy sunlight so that they could begin their days work. They didn't know what they would find when they found the Marquise girl, and Duo refused to think about it. So had their day gone and most of night as well.  
  
* * *  
  
Zeben Marquise, alias Relena Peacecraft, woke up bloody and sore. She had blacked out after her beating from the guards, so they had dragged her to her cot, and left her there. She briefly wondered why she was suffering these needless discomforts. The Gundam pilots were her enemies, and Earth's. But deep down, she knew what she was doing was right. She didn't know why, she just knew that even if she died in this prison, she would die with her information and sights. She hoped that it wouldn't come to that. She knew shrewdly that she knew too much about the pilots and that she was worth something to them, and that they might rescue her. She hoped they would hurry, she needed new stitches along her stomach, where the doctors had removed the knife that she later found out had been imbedded there. She couldn't actually remember that happening, but the fight between her and pilot 03 seemed far away to her, though if Zeben had thought harder, she would have realized it had happened only two days ago. Yesterday she had been recaptured by people she didn't even know and the day before that she had been stabbed through the gut with her own knife. She gasped as a hot wave of nausea and pain racked her abdomen, and spread slowly through out her body. She gritted her teeth and clenched her stomach muscles until they cramped to get rid of the pain. Then the door slid open, mechanically. It was the guard she had seen the day before. She sighed, and limped again down the hallway to where she had been questioned by the mysterious men. This time she got a shock. The lights were on, and she could see the men sitting on the long table in front of her. They sat on plushed up chairs, and wore their uniforms for the army. But it wasn't that she could see her questions. No, what she was shocked by, was the fact that she knew some of these men.  
  
"Duke Dermail!" she gasped, feeling her stomach tighten, then disappear for fear. The man smiled cruelly, and motioned for her to take a seat again. There were russet stains on the side; she had obviously dripped blood on the leather. Her lithe form remained tensed, despite the pain and confusion, Zeben knew who she was seeing. She knew that Treize worked for Dermail, and that her brother worked for Treize, so that in turn meant that she had been kidnapped by whom she thought were the good guys, the political people who were right when they argued against the colonists. It seemed that she was wrong.  
  
"Welcome my dear Miss Marquise. I am exceedingly sorry for your poor treatment, and had I known what had happened to you, of course I would have contacted Treize and your brother at once." The Duke said in a sickly sweet voice, obviously trying to appear concerned and failing horribly. Zeben sucked in her breath, and sat very still, listening to Dermail's obviously fake concern. When her brother had last brought her to one of his 'official meetings', she had been young, and Milliardo hadn't been able to get a babysitter for her, because the meeting was a last minute one. That had been the day she had learned what a soldier was, and why she should follow her brother's influence. One reason was because she had talked to Treize about the beauty of the battlefield, and even though she hadn't understood from being so young, she got the gist of it. The Duke had been there as well, and had eyed her in a way that even a five-year-old can't take for friendliness. She had shuddered so much that her brother had given her to his friend Lucreazia Noin to cheer up. The Duke had come over and talked to her about toys and animals and said that he had a granddaughter the same age as Zeben was. She met her later, and liked her as much as a soldier likes doing privy detail, which was absolutely not. Dorothy Catalonia had been mean and grasping, and when she had broken Zech's brand new communicator, Dorothy had blamed Zeben. Zeben took it of course, stonily and sternly, and had not been allowed to practice with her brother's guns for almost a month. Dorothy had also taunted Zeben about her name.  
  
Milliardo knew the name of Peacecraft was too noticeable to become a soldier with, so he had created a new name for them, Merquise. He had named himself French and German, and had given her the codename Zeben. She had loved it, admired it, and thought it made her a real soldier. But occasionally, when Zeben was very depressed, she would say her real name over and over into her pillow, so that she never lost her identity. She remembered Zech heard her one night and said that she was too sweet to be a soldier, but she had been adamant that she become one.  
  
So she studied, and signed up for aerobics, and swimming and gymnastics, all to make her a better soldier than anyone, even her brother. Dorothy had hit a tender spot there, and had known it.  
  
To get back at her, Zeben started snooping around whenever she went to Dorothy's house. Her brother, sharp as he was, had the stereotypical thought that all five-year-olds got along. He had forgotten what it was like when he was a child. And so, every Thursday when Zeben didn't have lessons, she went to the Catalonia's house. She hated it there. It was all could dead stone that had sat there for centuries, raking up cobwebs, and gathering mice and rats into its fold. It was rich and plush, like all mansions were, but Zeben had been sure that it was haunted.  
  
She remembered her childhood briefly, but she was suddenly thrown forward into the present when Dermail's colleagues left the room. She was alone with Duke Dermail. He stepped forward, and motioned to a guard dressed full out in livery, even though most people called it uniforms. The man brought a chair, which the older man sat in, glancing at Zeben's face to register emotion, which he didn't find. He sat close to her, but opposite from her, so that she could look into his face. He coughed gently, then sat up rigidly in his chair. After that he said in his loud, regal voice, "I am truly sorry that you have been confined here Ms. Merquise, but, until you tell us what we want to know, we wont let you out of this prison." He was toying with her, she could tell. Then Dermail ran his callused hand over her knee, and stroked it. She was so taken aback that she slapped him full across the face. Her guards, who hadn't left the room, strode forward and both males viciously slapped her as well.  
  
She glared at them, and noticed that the Duke had the stinging imprint of her hand written over his face. He ignored the hit, and started talking again.  
  
"You are a charming and lovely girl, when you are not retaining the idea of you becoming a soldier, and I would hate to think what would happen to you if we let some of the more boisterous boys guard you." He said, and a chill ran down Zeben's spine. "Until our next meeting, Ms. Peacecraft." Zeben looked frantically at the Duke, but saw him smile with pleasure. "Take her upstairs." He told one of the guards, then left. Her guards dragged her to the door, and kicked her up the large flight of stairs in a long corridor to a small room with little heat, and no furniture. They were going to get the answers from her by starving her to death, trying to break her. She had played this game before, and had always won, but now she wasn't too sure. Her stitches were nearly all opened now, and she could easily see an infection weltering there with the ill way she had to treat her body, what with beatings and malnutrition. She sighed, and curled up into the fetal position around her cramping stomach on the hard stone floor. Finally she drifted off into a hazy sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
It was mere chance when Duo and Wufei found the means of getting Zeben out. The guards who were assigned to her had gotten put up with beating an insolent girl, and had gone to talk about their day and drown their love lives in a bottle. It was a stroke of luck that they walked into the same bar as the duo.  
  
They had been asking the bartender where the closest grocery store was, because they wanted to read a few magazines and see if the press knew anything about the second kidnapping of Zeben Merquise. When the two disgruntled guards entered, their first words to each other were: "Man, what a wench! She's gonna keep getting beaten and beaten until she tells them about those damned colonists." They quickly sat down in a booth, away from prying eyes, but it was too late. Wufei had already heard them. He sauntered over to the older men, and said, "tough day at work, huh?" Both men cautiously nodded. Duo returned to Wufei, with two tall glasses of frothy beer. Both soldiers stared at it greedily. Wufei took the drinks from Duo, and set them on the table in front of the men.  
  
"It's on the house fellas!" Duo proudly proclaimed, and took a seat next to Wufei on a bench opposite the already intoxicated watchmen. The men told the Gundam pilots their names first; Tony and Barry.  
  
Tony was a blond with a slim frame, and could drink two beers in one gulp. He was obviously an alcoholic. Barry was all muscle, but the first person to think he didn't have a brain was wrong, and went down for a count if they said anything. He was barrel-chested, and had a large, twisted nose that looked broken. Both of the men had dulled green eyes. They had all ready consumed three drinks apiece.  
  
While they drank, they poured out their story, how they had become unemployed, their wives worked full time, and their children had to go to boarding schools to be fed properly. Duo acted sad, even looked sad, but Wufei sat there silently, waiting for their currant job to come out. And it did.  
  
"Well as luck would 'ave 'ad, we all found jobs in the, hic! army, and 'ave been there for a while. The foundations been good to us, and found places for us all to live." Tony slurred, calling for another glass of the amber liquid to be brought.  
  
"Only now we're practically baby-sitting this traitor to the earth. She won't tell us a blasted thing about the Gundams, and they kidnapped her! Its mind boggling what those colonists are capable of. Taking our best soldier and brainwashing her. It makes my head spin." Barry said, clenching his fist, and striking the table. Duo glanced at Wufei out of the corner of his eye, then went on.  
  
"Hey, you know, we could watch her for you. We were trained for the military, but we turned mechanics. We could beat her bloody if you wanted." He said, concealing his emotions, and trying to look eager and trigger- happy. The blonde one stared at him, and nodded, obviously taking Duo for an uppity youth and Wufei for a teenager with problems. Barry ruefully shook his head. 'At least teenagers still have their raging hormones. One thing never changes.'  
  
"Okay, but I don't know if our boss would like it. Us changing positions I mean. But a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do because my wife's waiting up for me." Barry continued, and got up, gave the two younger boys a lusty wink, and whispered quietly to Tony before staggering out the door and down the street. Tony immediately sobered up and leaned across the table to talk to the disguised colonists.  
  
"Here's two spare uniforms. Here are the keys, and here is a map of the castle where she is. The address is on the bottom corner. Have fun!" and with that, Tony too staggered out into the noon light. Wufei sighed, then glanced in Duo's direction.  
  
"How much money do we have to pay this bar because of those morons?" Duo rummaged through his many receipts, frowning and chewing on his tongue.  
  
"Wow, you aren't going to believe this, but its $47.60. Those guys can really hold their drink, if it's free anyway. Lets go back to base and report." They also left, leaving a bill on the counter and not pausing to pick up their change. They hurried back through the bright sunlight, Duo in his usual black, and Wufei in dark navy pants with cut off sleeves and a curling dragon emblazed on the front. Wufei's blue-black hair was bound in a short ponytail, for practical reasons. Duo's chestnut locks were in his usual braid. They rushed down the crowded streets and watched carefully to see if they were being followed before plunging into the thick trees.  
  
Twenty minutes later, after becoming very sticky from tree resin, Duo had almost given up reaching their base before he collapsed from hunger. Then they burst through the hidden bush and right into the wrong end of forty rifles. The guns relaxed when they saw the intruders, and so did the people wielding them. Wufei walked calmly into the tent where Quatre and Heero were, and sat down. Duo followed him, but not before going to the camp's supply of food and helping himself to some sandwiches.  
  
Heero had been lightly napping, but was alert even as Wufei sat down on the same chair as last night. Quatre returned from a walk in the woods and curled his legs criss-cross on the floor. He appeared comfortable, so Wufei began the narration, beginning with the discovery of the guards. He continued to relay the information they had been given from the susceptible men, and how they were tired of beating an 'insolent traitor'. Duo went on to say that he thought the Marquise girl hadn't squealed and was worth something to them. Duo paused, gulped down the sandwich in his hand, and then added his hope that she wasn't dead from all of the beatings she was probably receiving. Heero walked over to the cabinet where the instruments were and took out a sheaf of paper. He quickly drew an accurate, sketchy map from what they were given. Heero nodded brusquely and left the tent to converse with some of the men accustomed with the area.  
  
"What's up with him?" Duo asked, obviously perturbed that he failed to notice the skill with which Duo had bought drinks for the waylaid men who had provided them with so much information.  
  
"Duo, use your brain. Can't you see he's tired and nervous about his mission. Speaking of which, does anybody know where Trowa is?" Quatre said, worry in his voice. Unlike the others, Quatre was forgiving towards the mysterious Gundam pilot for his death attack on their prisoner. Wufei sat quietly, staring at his surroundings.  
  
"I don't know, Master Quatre, but I do know that he left early this morning, earlier than Masters Chang and Duo. He said to one of the men: 'I'll be awhile. Tell the others.' And then left. That's all we know." Rasid volunteered, with a grumble deep in his throat for his faithful men to have let this one get away without anyone noticing.  
  
"That's okay, Rasid." Quatre responded with a sigh. "Trowa's specialty is to escape and to disappear unnoticed. Come on, you guys, it's almost two o'clock. I got pretty hungry waiting for you. I see Duo already had lunch," Duo blushed and stared at his still growling stomach. "But Wufei, you must be starving." He turned to leave, but stopped when he noticed that Wufei wasn't rising from his seat on the whittled chair.  
  
"A warrior should not indulge when there are others who should be thought of first. Your men will not survive if we eat all of their food. We must focus on attacking OZ, and anyone else who stands in our way." Wufei replied sharply.  
  
Chang looked so righteous in his own decision that Duo cracked a grin and started laughing. After frowning disapprovingly like a disobeyed schoolteacher, Chang surprisingly smiled, and chuckled lightly. He stopped soon though, and started to lightly doze. The others followed suit, and Quatre wearily thought about the ordeal ahead of himself and Heero. Then he slept.  
  
* * *  
  
Zeben had given up on hope. She had been left in the tower, which she supposed was 'Isolation'. She had slept for a few hours, then had crawled around the room, since her stomach and head preventing her from walking on her feet. She explored and slept again, curling her head around her dirty, matted hair, and using it for a pillow. She slept uneasily, unconsciously aware and listening for footsteps on the stone stairs. She slipped more and more deeply into sleep until she was no longer aware of anything.  
  
While Zeben slept off her hurts and wounds, two stealthy shadows crept in under the cover of darkness. Both wore guards' uniforms, and had small pliant builds. When they reached the outer door, they both motioned to each other. They silently opened the large oak door. It swept along smoothly on its well-oiled hinges. They both sneaked in and shut the wooden door behind themselves. The one with dark hair pointed a finger up a flight of stairs after glancing at a dirty scrap of paper. The shadow whispered to the blonde-haired ghost beside him, "This way for Solitary Confinement. Let's go." The ghost nodded, and both slunk silently up the stone spiral staircase. When they reached the top, they met a door. The shadow beckoned to the ghost, who rammed into the door, but staggered back.  
  
"Too solid and heavy, Heero. Get the hinges." Both phantoms reached for the slick hinges; fingers sliding on the rich oil that coated the metal. They unscrewed them, and let them fall quietly to the stone floor, where it made hardly a clatter. The specters let the door glide slowly to the floor, a smooth practiced movement. They both stepped into the threshold of the small cold room, and both teenagers saw the (again) bruised and bloody body of Ms. Zeben Marquise, also known as Relena Peacecraft. Heero stood guard and watched a patrol walk past talking about their low wages. Quatre checked for Zeben's pulse and determined her injuries, whether she could be moved or not. He called the status report softly to Heero for his input.  
  
"She had at least thirty stitches before, half are still intact and holding her together. Slow bleeding from her stomach wound, lacerations from beatings, swollen face, cut lip, bruised head, and a very swollen leg. It might be broken, but I think it's just sprained or twisted. What do you think? I say we take her. She might not survive another beating if she stays here."  
  
Heero's heart raced at that little reminder of where they were and how much Zeben had sustained to keep her own kidnappers, her enemies, alive.  
  
'She really is the perfect soldier.' He thought to himself, before commenting to Quatre, "Hurry up, we've been here too long." Quatre hurriedly brought out the body bag they had brought if they found the girl. He gently laid Zeben in the bag, then zipped it up, leaving a hole in front of her mouth. Zeben was so unconscious that she didn't even know she was being moved. Both boys lifted up the bag and hauled it down the stairs. On the way they met a post of guards. Heero lightly dropped his side of the bag and went over to talk to them, moving his hand and pointing towards the bag. They both nodded and went back to talking. Heero saluted them like a low soldier would have, and walked back to his comrade. The duo slowly and methodically half carried, half dragged the bag towards the campsite of the Maganacs.  
  
* * * Duo stood, pacing a hole in the ground of his tent, worried out of his mind.  
  
"What if they're caught?" he asked his silent confederate, speaking in a whisper, as if he was afraid he might jinx it. "Then they are caught. Look Duo, I don't think you should get so close to Marquise. She's dangerous, and I think you are a little too flirtatious with her. She is from the Earth. Earth it is our enemy. It is that simple." Wufei said cuttingly and tiredly. Duo looked stung.  
  
"Wufei, it's not that cut and dried. Not everyone wants to be in this war." Suddenly Duo was transported back into his memories. People were screaming, and bodies lay everywhere in the strewn wreckage of the once beautiful church. Duo was a little kid, his braid only coming to the small of his back. He was wearing his black robe and had returned to find Sister Helen, the only mother he had ever known, and the first person to braid his hair, dying at his feet. The father of the church had already died, leaving Duo to be a survivor of what came to be known as 'The Maxwell Church Tragedy'.  
  
Abruptly, Duo heard a noise at the flap of the tent and he was thrown to the present. Wufei rose from his seat on the floor and joined Quatre in dragging in a body bag that was very lumpy and heavy. Heero came in next after smoothing the tracks from where the bag had dragged across the ground. The four boys gently placed the bag on the care-worn couch and slowly drew out the sleeping girl. For a moment Duo was distressed, for it looked as if Zeben were dead she was so deeply asleep, but when he felt her light, slow pulse he relaxed. Heero and Quatre had dragged Zeben's body for ten miles away from her prison.  
  
* * *  
  
After the boys had washed up, and eaten a light meal consisting of biscuits and dried beef jerky the group silently sat down to decide what to do with the still unconscious girl. Quatre started the conversation.  
  
"What if we took her to the colonies for medical attention? She wouldn't be recognized there."  
  
"What if she didn't make it through the transportation?" Trowa asked his friend. There was silence as everyone tried to think up an alternative choice of action, or contemplate what would happen if the girl died and Zech managed to find out that the colonists had been the cause of the death.  
  
'That would be a great thing to happen,' thought Heero sarcastically.  
  
"Okay, so sue me, but I think we should take her to an Earther hospital, but one far away from here. Fair enough?" Duo asked, looking around the group for confirmation. "Good, so we'll get a transport unit, and be on our way. Now, should we bring the Maganac's?" Everyone instinctively turned towards Quatre.  
  
The blonde pilot blushed.  
  
"I think we should leave them here to function. Forty men are going to arouse a lot of attention if we go to a hospital, which we will. We could leave them with a few messages, and depart in the morning." The blue-eyed colonist looked around the group. "Chang? What's wrong?" he continued.  
  
"I am leaving tomorrow, yes, but not with you." The oriental man stood up from his chair, sturdy, strong, and back straightened proudly. "I will not baby sit some woman, even if this war proves to me that I am weaker than her. The weak do not fight, but right now I am not weak, and I want to do all that I can to help the colonies in this war. I am going after Trieze Khushranada. I have a personal score to settle with Trieze, but I will be back, and I will find you through this Doctor J person that knows Heero so well. Good night." And with that eloquent speech, Wufei nodded to Trowa, looked sternly at Duo, as if telling him to stay out of trouble, and left the tent to go sleep in his precious Nataku, the Altron Gundam.  
  
It was a few minutes before anyone spoke after Wufei's parting speech, but when they did, they spoke little. They basically said that they would get up early tomorrow to transport the ensanguined Zeben. Then they speculated how Trowa was doing spying on St. Gabriel School.  
  
The day passed lazily and the occupants of the tent moved around lethargically. The sun finally turned enough that dusk had come. The sky lit up with dark purple hues, and bright pink clouds streaked the sky where planes had flown over. Duo leaned against a tent pole and quietly watched the celestial orb sink into a pool of its own fire. As he watched, his eyes reflecting the fires of the sun, a hand reached out and tapped his shoulder. Duo spun around to find Zeben standing there shakily, with a blanket around her bloodied form against the developing chill. The happy-go- lucky pilot smiled widely, and grabbed Zeben in a giant bear hug. She laughed softly, before turning her smiling face into a painful grimace. Duo instantly changed from happiness to consternation. He put her hand over his back and let her lean against his strong body, and slowly helped her back to her bed. The sun had fully set by this time, and let Zeben collapse on the thin frame of the cot. Her face was gray out of the rosy glow of the setting sun, and her face was drawn and pale. Duo called to Heero and tucked Zeben back in. Zeben protested, and struggled out of the blankets. Heero walked in with a mutinous expression on his face, which brightened slightly when he saw a conscious Merquise.  
  
Zeben hastily reassured the stalwart Gundam pilot that she hadn't betrayed them, and slowly fell into a light slumber. The two pilots stayed up and conversed outside of Zeben's tent.  
  
"How is she?" asked Heero in a quiet voice.  
  
"Well, she walked over to me from her tent, but collapsed like right after that. She needs medical stuff Heero. Let's leave now, not tomorrow. She could die tonight from blood loss. Her face is going to start swelling and getting bruised soon and her mental walls are still as high as ever. Anything else, O fickle one?" asked Duo mockingly, with a huge, knowing grin on his slim face. Heero just stared at the pompous pilot, and calmly walked away to spend the rest of the night brooding in his tent beside the snoring Quatre.  
  
* * *  
  
Morning came, signifying the start to what would be a busy day. At four thirty, Heero was already packed, had Zeben packed and snugly secure in a van and was kicking Duo out of his cot. Quatre calmly watched the two supposedly mature pilots fight with each other while sipping his tea. Finally the slim blonde Arabian man slammed down his china on the table in front of him. Hearing the delicate tinkle of breaking china, both the harasser, a.k.a. Heero, and the harassee, a.k.a. Duo stopped fighting to glance in Quatre's direction.  
  
"We mustn't fight each other guys! We've got a dying girl in that car, and all you can do is stand around kicking people? Where have your priorities gone?" The blonde said, gesticulating towards the inconspicuous car, and back to the battered pair of fighters. Duo promptly replied: "To school. You would never guess they would go there would you?" Quatre cracked a smile, and even Rasid, who was seeing off his master, grinned at the joke. Wufei nodded to them all, looked at Zeben sourly, and walked over to where he had hid his Gundam. Soon, the boys could hear the sound of Nataku's boosters stirring to life to take Wufei to space.  
Thirty minutes later, Duo was grumbling about the seating, the air conditioner or lack there of, the driver (Heero), and the brand new car smell that pervaded the automobile as they zoomed down the highway.  
  
"Why do all new cars smell horrible?" he asked through his child-like frown. "I mean, new cars should smell good, because you just paid a lot of money for it, but it only smells good after you've bought it and put up an air freshener." He continued in his pouty voice.  
  
"Duo, do us all a favor and shut up." Heero said in his slow drawl. The four boys, for Trowa was there as well, heard an agreeing murmur from the back of the truck as well.  
  
"So Trowa," Heero said, glancing out of the corner of his eyes at the review mirror at his fellow Gundam pilot, "Is Gabriel's School a lost cause for us?"  
  
"No," answered the collected man from the middle of the van. "They have been recently pouring out soldiers for Oz, but the pilots themselves believe they are fighting for Earth, not specifically in Oz. They have increased mobile suit productions as well, and several companies that fund the school have set up factories on the moon."  
  
"Hey! I've been there. Their prison food sucks! It was all 'you can NOT have explosives', and 'NO playing with mechanics tools!' It was boring, so I left. Wasn't to hard either." Duo commented, searching the radio for some music. Trowa rolled his eyes in exasperation before continuing his report.  
  
"Zeben Merquise's brother is making routine checks around the school every four months. He is training the younger students, and lecturing the older ones. He's turning out more enemies Heero. I say we take it out at night when we can destroy everything, and make sure." he trailed off. Quatre supplied the rest of the sentence quietly, staring with clear blue eyes in Heero's direction from the back of the van.  
  
"And make sure we minimize the loss of life. These soldiers are only fighting for what they believe in, just like us! The only difference is-"  
  
"The only difference is that the colonists have a reason to hate the Earth. But so far, the colonists have been noble, and aside from the true Operation Meteor, they have acted valiantly through out this war." Said a raspy voice that startled most of them.  
  
Stoic Heero kept on driving.  
  
Quatre looked in amazement at the bloody girl lying on the floor of the bouncing and jerking van. She was staring at the ceiling with truth and conviction in her eyes. She looked at Quatre and Trowa's faces, for they were the ones who were seated in the back, who could turn around and see her, and smiled slowly.  
  
"I have been thinking, but the only reason I could find for hating the colonists is what they did to my family. I remembered. My past was tormented, and my life since then has been adventurous, to use a word. But I am proud to be fighting against you, even if the Earth has done less than honorable things." She sighed, closed her eyes and slept.  
  
Trowa stared at Quatre, then shrugged his shoulders in a comical way. The young blonde sighed and turned to Duo.  
  
"Do you believe we should discuss such topics with her around? She is from Gabriel School after all." He whispered to the rest of the boys. Heero responded with a stony silence, Duo shrugged as Trowa had and Trowa himself sat back in the seat to contemplate and examine this comment.  
  
The rest of the ride passed with Duo sleeping, Quatre reading a torn and roughed up book, and Trowa relaxing. Heero continued to drive to the next inland country. 


End file.
